Darkness Calling
by Blonde-Eko
Summary: What if Osamu and Ken had always been meant to go to camp that summer as vital parts of the original Digidestined? Was Ken only ever the back up option for the dark spore? How much does the fate of the two worlds hang on the smallest of decisions and how much is down to immovable fate? DIGIMON ADVENTURE 01 WITH A TWIST.
1. The Start of All Epic Adventures

**Note: I do not own Digimon**

Did you ever imagine what would have happened if Osamu and Ken had been a part of the Digimon adventure from the very beginning? I have, so here is my take on the way events could possibly pan out.  
(_I also wrote a prologue to this alternate Digimon Adventure, it was originally tagged on here as the first two chapters but now I've decided to put it as a seperate story, so if you're interested in a bit of Osamu and Gennai back story -which will be referenced here- then you can check that out too. Its only two chapters and is a different side of the Digimon Movie about Hikarigaoka :D hope you enjoy!_)

I hope you enjoy it!

Also I am currently debating with myself who **_Osamu_** should have for a **_Digimon Partner_**.  
_**Any suggestions**_ on who you think could work well would be much appreciated :}

...*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*...

* * *

**_Chapter One ~ The Start of All Epic Adventures: A Summer Camp_**

(Osamu's Point of View)

* * *

Osamu Ichijouji tinkered around happily with the wires and memory boards of the dismantled computer before him. This was how he chose to relax after another day of having to socialise with people he barely understood for hours on end at school.

He lived for the thrill of figuring out how things worked, how they could be rebuilt and improved, and this clutter of circuits and wiring before him made for a most enticing puzzle. People, on the other hand, bored and frustrated him. He was relieved to finally have some space from their constant pestering and futile social conventions.

Smile, make eye contact, engage in meaningless conversation about mundane things; going through these motions was so tiresome and ultimately pointless. He did not understand why people put so much importance on such things, but he did know that he found it... difficult. It was such a relief to be back home, tinkering with these wires and able to hear himself think again.

_Maybe if I connect this here, using this wire._.. He nibbled his lower lip in concentration, analysing possibilities in his head and wondering which would give the desired effect. _Oh wait, what about-?_

Knock, knock, knock.

"Oniisan," a timid voice piped up from the other side of his door, interrupting his reverie. "It's nearly time to go."

Osamu frowned.

Of course, today had been the last day of term which meant only one thing. This afternoon, in the next half hour as a matter of fact, he was to endure further punishment by being shipped away to some outdoors summer camp for a whole week. With children his own age and younger swarming around.

_Typical_.

"Yes, all right." He mumbled dejectedly in response to his eager little brother.

The door creaked open slightly and Osamu could make out an inquisitive pair of eyes peeking around the corners, scanning his room with hungry interest. He never liked to allow his younger brother in here as there was so much he could damage or mess up, so for Ken getting a rare glimpse of Osamu's lair was always intriguing.

He swatted his curious younger brother away with a wave and frowned. All he had wanted was a short time to himself, was that too much to ask?

As the door shut and his brother retreated, Osamu lovingly collected up each of the scattered pieces before him and arranged them neatly in his desk drawer for later. He then turned to the worn rucksack on his bed as it sat there, waiting for him to pack for this ridiculous summer camp which his parents were insisting he and his brother participate in.

_How tiresome, sometimes I wish mother and father would just leave me be_. He grimaced slightly as he began carefully transferring rolls of socks and underwear into the waiting rucksack and sighed. _Why can't they see I don't need to socialise, I'm far better off without these pointless distractions from my projects._

Once he had packed the required garments and a few cautious extras, as well as some books to read and the odd tool or gadget here and there which he hoped he would have chance to work on, he threw the heavy bag over his shoulder and left the security of his room, plastering a smile on his face to reassure his family that he was perfectly capable of social interactions and hopefully discourage them from doing this to him again.

_Summer camp, honestly could they be more disagreeable?_

His mother was already standing there outside his room, or maybe _lurking_ was a more apt verb to use under the circumstances. She immediately threw on a smile of her own and started to make that drivelling small talk which Osamu disliked intensely.

"Oh honey, perfect timing," she beamed, so over-sweet he was convinced it could give him diabetes. _Social diabetes; a new and disturbing classification mainly afflicting teenage sons_... He very nearly smirked at his own bad quip before realising his mother was staring at him expectantly, had he missed something?

"Are you excited?" she asked intently, as if repeating herself. Which she may well have been, he hadn't been fully concentrating.

_Is that a serious question_? "Thrilled." He answered, with a heroic effort to conceal his sarcasm.

She searched his eyes, trying to tell whether he was being genuine and sighing when she found him lacking.

He looked down and an awkward silence descended.

Ken bounded into the hallway lugging his own rucksack which seemed to be brimming with an assortment of dubious and hasty attempts at baking.

Osamu smothered a grin as he saw the edge of a peanut butter encrusted mound (that, knowing his enthusiastic brother, was an interesting attempt at sponge cake) peeking from one of the many pockets.

_I wonder if he packed anything useful? Maybe he intends to wear cupcakes the whole week_… He chuckled slightly and ruffled his brother's hair with affection.

He did not like most people, yet his Ken was impossible not to love. Even if he could be infuriating with his constant need to bug Osamu during all hours of the day.

"Can we go yet?" Ken pestered, practically bouncing up and down in his eagerness to set off.

"Your father is just starting the car, go put your bag into the boot sweetheart." His mother smiled kindly, stroking his hair before he could bound off in excitement.

As Ken became a blur running out of the door Osamu's mother looked down at him seriously. "Look after him, Osamu." She implored.

He bowed slightly. "Of course, mother."

"And, honey?" She hesitated for a moment, "just try to have fun."

He bowed again, this time more rigidly. "Of course, mother."

She frowned slightly before pasting that ridiculous smile back on her face and pulling him into a forced and awkward embrace.

"I mean it," she whispered against his hair, tickling his ear. He was almost as tall as her now. "We aren't doing this to punish you, Osamu. We want you to experience life beyond…" she made a sweeping gesture to indicate his room. His life.

He stiffened against her and tried to break free. She let him go reluctantly and brushed his cheek with her thumb. He pulled away and once more stared at the ground.

"Bye, mother." He muttered before he made his way out of the door and closed it behind him. He thought he heard her make a noise behind him, but if she was saying something it was cut off as the door closed her in. No matter, it was not important now. Honestly, he was just relieved to have escaped the awkward emotional wreck that was his mother, she was always so volatile and made him feel uncomfortable.

That would be one good thing about summer camp, being able to get away from his parents for a little while, their constant attention and fuss could just become too much sometimes.

Yet on the flip side of that there would be the other children to contend with at the camp itself. What was that saying, "better the Devil you know"? There could be something in that as at least with his parents he could make them respect his right to privacy. He did now have his own room after all, a luxury for many people his age. He doubted such a privilege would be available to him at camp.

There was going to be no escaping these other children. _Dios mios_, he frowned, _this is really going to test my limits_.

He wondered what they would be like.

"Oniisan!" Ken was suddenly by his side, dragging him towards the car and chattering about something.

_I just hope there are some I can be myself around_, he sighed as he allowed himself to be led into the car.

"Pst," Ken interrupted his thoughts with a conspiratorial smile. "Want some peanut-cake?" He whispered, holding out a sticky hand with an even stickier offering of mutilated cake smothered in stomach turning globs of peanut butter. _Delightful_.

"I'm okay thanks, Kenny." He smiled, amused at the mess his younger brother was already making a mere two minutes into their journey. He wondered how his car-proud father would feel about that.

Ken responded with a happy noise, muffled by the mouthful of cake he was getting through, and a proud smile. Osamu laughed, causing Ken to giggle in response and splutter half-chewed fragments of his creation all over the back of their father's pristine leather seat.

Osamu suppressed a smirk.

As the car rounded the next corner he spotted the sign for the camping ground, claiming it was only fifty miles away. They should arrive in around an hour, but the reality would be that they would reach it long before then knowing his father's driving.

_Right then, here we go_. _Only one week, I can survive that_.

* * *

When they arrived, despite it being the middle of summer, there was a chill in the air so Osamu grabbed two jackets out of his rucksack and threw one around the small shoulders of his little brother. Ken smiled up at him gratefully and Osamu nodded.

"Probably a lot warmed to wear than any of those cakes you packed, dummy." Osamu ruffled his brother's hair and grinned.

"But not as tasty to eat," reasoned Ken happily, tightening the jacket around him to make the most of its pleasant warmth.

_Mm, child logic has a strange idea of 'tasty'_, he thought as he remembered the mushed up offering from earlier. "Whatever you say, Kenny."

"Oi, Ichijouji!" A loud and slightly annoying voice called out, causing Osamu to curse his parents yet again for forcing this on him.

He forced a smile and turned around to spot the source of the greeting. "Oh, hey Yagami, you're here too?" _Just my luck_.

Taichi Yagami, his rival on the football field and the boy who just never seemed to leave him alone, stood grinning goofily at him. _Perfect, this was officially set to be the week from hell_.

Behind him stood a shy little girl, probably about Ken's age, who watched this encounter with wide amber eyes.

"Sure am, along with my little sister Hikari. I have to keep a good eye on her, she nearly didn't come because of a nasty cold. She's a tough kid though," he beamed down at the child behind him proudly as she smiled up at him with a large dose of sibling admiration, the same look Osamu often caught in Ken's eyes.

Ken, who was now paying attention to this exchange, had sidled behind Osamu to watch the strangers with interest. His eyes glanced warily from the older boy to the younger girl and back again, not quite sure what to make of them. Osamu hadn't realised his younger brother was intimidated by people as well, he usually acted so at ease with anyone and everyone.

He grasped the younger child's hand reassuringly and smiled fondly down at him. "I'm here with a sibling too, this is my little brother Ken."

He squeezed his hand to let him know that it was okay to say hello and this seemed to refill all of Ken's previous confidence. He bounded up to the other two children and grinned, his previous shyness forgotten. "Hi, I'm Ken and I'm eight. How old are you?"

Taichi smiled down at the energy filled younger boy. "I'm eleven, same as your big brother and Hikari here is eight, the same as you."

Hikari nodded and smiled bashfully, but said nothing and remained cautiously behind Taichi.

"Cool," Ken decided, smiling around at the other three children. "We can all be friends then."

Taichi nodded, happy with this arrangement. He had been trying to befriend Osamu for years without much success and was glad to catch such a break. Osamu and Hikari were slightly more reserved but made no objection and so the four of them decided to explore their new surroundings together. Well, more like the three other children willingly went along with Taichi's need to 'explore', wandering around bushes and trees for the sake of it. A use of time which Osamu felt to be highly inefficient, until he saw the wide smile on his brother's face as he took in the different environment with its scenery and intrigue.

_Maybe I should make it a priority to take Ken to the countryside or the seaside more often,_ _it certainly couldn't hurt._

"Tai!" a female voice called out from above them after about half an hour.

Taichi looked upwards and saw his best friend, Sora, laying on a branch of the tree just behind them. "Hey Sor, having fun there?"

Osamu knew Sora from years of playing football on the same team as her, yet it hit him then as he saw her in the tree above them that he had never bothered to have an actual conversation with her. Not that he had ever wanted to, at the time, but it occurred to him that this may make things awkward over the next week if Sora was the type of female to hold a grudge over that kind of thing. He seemed to recall she had tried to initiate conversations in the past, always in vain.

Most females managed to hold grudges over much less, he had observed.

"You bet I am, away from mum and her dumb old flower shop I can do whatever I want. She can't scold me for climbing or having fun, oh Tai this week is going to be the best week ever." Her shining eyes left Taichi for a moment and landed on the others with him. Sora smiled and waved kindly at Hikari who waved back and then she noticed Osamu. "Oh, hi there Osamu." Her voice conveyed a note of surprise to see him, of all people, there but she merely smiled in greeting and jumped down from her branch with practised grace.

_Looks like she isn't the type to hold a grudge after all_, he thought gratefully as he saw the genuine smile in her eyes. _What a relief, this week would have been so tedious if she were_.

"Hello Sora," he nodded, doing his best to give her a friendly smile.

She then noticed Ken, who had again retreated behind him in the face of another stranger, and smiled towards him encouragingly.

"Hey there buddy," she knelt down to address him and he gazed at her with wary eyes. "What's your name?"

When he didn't answer Osamu decided he should step in. "His name is Ken and he is my younger brother."

Sora smiled again, this time with more of a visible effort. "Lovely to meet you, Ken. Do you play soccer?"

At this Ken's face pricked up into an eager and open smile. "I love soccer!"

Sora laughed, her previous easy manner returning now that she had made progress. "Well then Tai, Osamu, Ken, Hikari," she began as she made eye contact with each of them. "What do you say we round everyone up for a friendly game of soccer later? Would that be fun?"

"Brilliant idea, Sor!" Taichi grinned, glancing confidently at the others around him.

_That does sound like fun_, conceded Osamu to himself. _Camp could be a lot worse_.

Seeing the others nod enthusiastically Sora smiled and she began to plan with Taichi possible equal teams and likely participants from what she knew of the children attending camp. Ken followed their conversation with excitement and Osamu smiled to himself.

_Yes, indeed. Camp could be a hell of a lot worse._

* * *

Fairly soon the five children decided that exploring with their heavy rucksacks in tow was not the most fun activity and made their way to the Camp Organiser to find out which cabin they had been allocated. It seemed they were all in the same cabin, just up the hill at the top of the steps, which they would be sharing with five other children.

Osamu froze for a moment as they began to make their way up the roughly carved steps. Had a snowflake just landed on his nose? No, that would be just ridiculous. It may be getting bitterly cold but this was summer. Snow right now was impossible. Or at the very least highly improbable.

He must be imagining things.

He shook his head and ignored it, rushing on upwards to catch up with the others.

When they reached the cosy log cabin they saw that they were the last children there, meaning that most of the best bunk beds had been taken already. Not that Osamu was particularly bothered but he knew that Ken had set his heart on a top bunk space by the window and he couldn't help the small pang of regret that he could not provide such a simple thing for his younger brother.

He glanced around the room at the faces of the other children and was glad to notice there was another boy Ken's age.

He was also relieved to see one boy, around his age but maybe younger, fiddling with a laptop. Maybe he would have someone here who he could relate to over more than just soccer, but over technology and other such interests, after all. The thought filled him with hope.

"Hey guys!" Taichi's voice was both urgent and excited as he rushed into the cabin's entrance from outside, a small fold-out telescope in his hand. "You won't believe this, come look outside. It's snowing!"

There was a commotion as gasps of disbelief and a medley of excited voices built in the small cabin.

Ken and the other young boy became suddenly animated and rushed to the nearest window for a better look, grinning at each other with their shared excitement at such a sight. Hikari followed them tentatively, and smiled slightly at the view outside.

Osamu then followed the other children as they crowded around the two small windows, exclaiming at the sight before their eyes. He had never seen such pure, thick snow in his life, as far as his memory went, and he did not hesitate to join the other children as they filed outside to properly appreciate this sight when the limited view offered by the windows just wasn't enough.

The ten youngsters left the cabin and spread out to enjoy the breath taking scene before them. Strange lights in the sky appeared and Osamu whispered in awe "The Aurora Borealis" at the same time as the red haired boy with the laptop. They glanced at each other and smiled slightly.

_What on earth was happening_? Osamu wondered. _Snow in summer, the Aurora Borealis being visible from Japan; something was very wrong here_.

Suddenly Osamu felt a small hand fit into his. Ken. He squeezed it reassuringly and looked down at the rapturous yet confused expression on the face of his little brother.

"Onii-san," he breathed quietly, almost reverently.

"It's okay Kenny," Osamu looped his arm around Ken's shoulders while still grasping his hand tightly.

The ground began to shake and the children panicked. Osamu ignored the others and focussed only on the shivering bundle in his arms; Ken was terrified. He grabbed him closer and began to stroke his hair, soothing him in the only way he could think to at that moment. He was about to whisper again that it would be okay when the world went black.

Suddenly his arms were empty and he was falling into the darkness, alone.

"Ken!" he cried, but no words came out.


	2. Dodging Pincers

**Note: I do not own Digimon**

I just want to say a massive thank you to all those who reviewed my last chapter and gave such wonderful feedback and ideas! I am going to weigh up all the options but just so you know I am still debating with myself who Osamu should have for a Digimon Partner.

It is currently between (Cupimon-+**_Impmon_**), (Dorimon-+_**DORUmon**_), (Hopmon-+_**Monodramon**_), (Kuramon-+**_Dracmon_**), (Wanyamon-+_**Leormon**_) and (Chapmon-+**_Kamemon_**).

{{Thank you to **Substitute Deathberry**, **Naomi Shihoin** and **NatNicole** for these brilliant ideas, so many awesome ones to choose from!}}

Any suggestions on who you think could work well from this motley crew would be much appreciated :}

(Osamu's digimon partner will make an appearance from next chapter. I stalled because I am just so damn indecisive)

...*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*...

* * *

**_Chapter Two ~ Dodging Pincers: Some Quality Bonding Time_**

* * *

Ken groaned slightly as he tried to open his eyes. Everything hurt. His head, his knees, his back, even his socks seemed to be in pain.

_"That's because the poor things aren't meant to be paired with sandals,"_ in his mind Ken could almost hear the throw-away quip his brother would make, almost see the look of amusement as Osamu ripped into him for his strange habits, almost feel the large hand as it would ruffle his hair with affection.

_Oniisan._..

That's right, the last thing he remembered Osamu had been clutching him protectively because there was a strange storm or something at camp. There had been snow too, such beautiful, thick snow. And strangely curving, coloured lights which looked like something from one of his favourite Sci Fi shows. Then there had been a blinding white light which engulfed everything, all of Japan as far as Ken could see, and that was the last thing he remembered.

_I wonder if the ground shaking like that was because those crazy lights were really aliens coming to say hello to us_? He smiled to himself at such a thought but immediately regretted it. Turns out his smile muscles hurt too.

He squinted slightly against the bright light all around him, hoping to be able to make out the figure of his big brother somewhere near by.

That's strange, maybe he was dreaming. His eyes seemed to be insisting that he was laying against a giant tree in the middle of a forest. The summer camp was in the countryside surrounded by trees, yes, but not ones like this; it was beyond huge and would be as out of the place in the Japanese countryside as a dragon would be on the Tube. A giant, smelly, fire breathing dragon.

So he must be dreaming, right? Because this definitely wasn't Japan.

He wrinkled his nose slightly, this place even smelt strange.

_Where am I?_ he squinted against the daylight again, this time managing to open his eyes almost fully for a few seconds. _And where's Oniisan?_

His head began to swim, feeling heavy and fuzzy and he began to see flitting sparks behind his eyes. Before he knew what was happening he had slipped quietly back into the cold depths of unconsciousness.

* * *

Minomon scoured the third quadrant of the forest with as much eagerness as he had combed through the first two. Today was the day he was going to meet his partner and undomesticated equines could not keep him from putting his whole heart and soul into this search.

He wondered how the other Digidestined Digimon were faring with their searches. He hoped they would all be successful as it would just be so heartbreaking to think that something could have gone wrong on today of all days. Not that he doubted the prophesy, but he did have a tendency to over think things, especially ones as momentous as this. It was fate-of-the-world stuff after all, but more than that it was huge for him personally as today he was going to get to meet Ken.

_Ken. Ken. Ken._ Just thinking his name gave Minomon a shiver of anticipation. Very soon he would have a face to call to mind when he thought of that name, a laugh to recognise and friend to get to know. More than just a friend; he would have a partner.

It was just at this moment that Minomon saw a human child laying unconscious against a tree before him. A jolt of... something... coursed through him and time stood still for a moment as he stared at that child. _Ken? Could it be you?_

All of a sudden Minomon grew shy and for a second he allowed himself to ask the question he had not even let himself consider before. _What if he doesn't like me?_

But as quickly as such doubts had surged, he squashed them back, focussing on the reality not the possibilities. The reality was that the being lying just before him could very well be his Ken.

He slowly sidled up to the small child, amazed that such an innocent looking creature could be the key to defeating the evil which had gained a foothold in their world. He looked so peaceful, so fragile. A powerful surge of emotion coursed through Minomon as the desire to protect and provide for this strange new creature overwhelmed him. _I won't let anyone hurt you, Ken. I promise you will be safe with me_.

For a few seconds and an infinite number of heartbeats Minomon stood over the young child, watching him breath steadily and working up the courage to wake him. At last he decided to just go for it as waiting would gain nothing.

"Ken?" he whispered, his voice taunt with nerves.

No response.

"Ken?" he tried speaking louder, prodding him slightly with one of the edges of his pine-cone shaped lower body.

"Unnn?" the human child made a strange noise and his face contorted for a second into some kind of grimace, but he did not rouse.

"Ken?" Minomon tried again, this time even louder and giving out multiple pokes with his edges, hoping to get a proper reaction.

"Ushunngwh," Ken managed more syllables this time and seemed to be reacting to Minomon's stimuli on some level.

This encouraged the small creature and he decided to continue with gusto.

* * *

"Ken?" a soft voice whispered, trying to reach him. He wanted to respond as something in that voice appealed to him, but he couldn't, the words wouldn't form. The thoughts wouldn't even form. His mind felt like it was wading through mud.

Seconds later the voice returned only with slightly more power behind it. "Ken?"

"Hello?" he tried to greet it. Only he had the feeling his attempt didn't come out in words, more generic sounds.

There was a pause and Ken relaxed, feeling himself being pulled gently back into the calm of the darkness. Floating further and further into the embrace of unconsciousness. All of his thoughts and feelings, who he was, seemed to become more detached with every passing second.

But the voice was persistent and became an anchor for him, lodging him securely as unconsciousness tried to drag him down.

He felt strange sensations as if something pointy were softly prodding his side, his hands and then _Oh Good Gracious_ \- his _feet_!

"Stop!" he cried as he stirred, weakly swatting the air with his right foot in an attempt to shake off whatever it was that was agitating it.

After this he slowly began coming to and as he became gradually aware of his surroundings he noticed a pair of tiny, beady eyes looking up at him uncertainly and he could not help but stare back.

_What a weird, um, thing_, he thought as he stared at the palm-sized face before him. It seemed to be some sort of miniature green creature stuck in a pine-cone, whose two little arms could be seen peeking out of the top of this cone and who had two perked up ears, some kind of vine growing out of the top of his head and a mouth which looked distinctly bug like.

The mouth caught Ken's attention, he hated bugs. They terrified him. _Yuck!_

But then, he thought as he further examined the little animal, it wasn't actually a bug, surely? It was far too cute to be a nasty creepy crawly. So it was okay.

"Ken?" the creature finally asked after a few long seconds of the two of them staring at each other.

Ken's eyes widened in shock as he realised this thing could talk _and_ knew his name. At that moment he didn't know which one to be more freaked out by and his mind reeled trying to make sense of everything from the strange snow and lights to this place and the creature who had found him.

"Who are you?" he demanded nervously. "Are you from outer space?" he had only been joking about aliens before, but this was just getting so weird that aliens would be the most normal explanation.

The creature smiled slightly at this.

"My name's Minomon," it chirped "and I'm not from space, I'm from here." Then, seeing the look of confusion on Ken's face, it added "The Digital World."

"The Digital World?" Ken whispered to himself uncertainly. He had never heard of that before, but then he hadn't even heard of some small places in Japan so it may not be that outlandish.

"Yup," Minomon said cheerfully, smiling at his partner. "Where are you from, Ken?"

He was about to give his town's name when he thought better of it. "Japan," he answered softly, realising that he may not even be in his home country any more. He had never been anywhere outside of Japan and the thought that he had somehow found himself in a completely different place outside of that familiarity now was both exhilarating and terrifying in equal parts.

"What's Japan?" Minomon asked, intrigued.

Ken raised his eyebrows at that. How could anyone not have heard of Japan?!

"Its the land of the rising sun," he recalled from his Kanji Explanation classes.

"Oh." said Minomon, unsure how to respond to that. His partner lived in a land made of a sun? Maybe he was sturdier than he looked...

There was an ominous, low humming sound in the distance which grabbed their attention as it seemed to be getting closer. Conversation became hushed and the two of them looked around anxiously.

"What's that?" asked Ken, looking to Minomon with his big, trusting eyes.

Minomon was instantly alert and did not answer Ken for a few seconds but stayed statue still with his right ear pricked up, listening intently.

"I think we may be in trouble," he said eventually, scowling up at the sky as the low humming became louder and louder above them. "I think its a Kuwagamon."

"What's a-?" Ken began.

"Shhh!" Minomon hissed urgently, cutting his partner off. "Follow me, now."

The outline of a large, insect-like creature loomed overhead causing a shiver to creep up the young boy's spine.

Ken wasted no time in swinging his rucksack over his shoulder and rushing after his new friend as quietly as he could, hoping the horrid giant bug hadn't seen or heard them. The humming grew louder and louder until the plants and trees around him were being thrown around chaotically by the air disturbance as Kuwagamon flew closer to the ground and to them.

Ken ran as fast as he could now, no longer concerned with stealth.

Minomon leapt backwards onto Ken's shoulder and began hurling attacks at the giant red bug monster as he was chasing them. None had any effect except to infuriate him even more, yet Minomon was stubborn and refused to stop trying.

"**_Pinecone!_**" he yelled, his voice high pitched with anger, as he hurled spiked cone after cone towards their aggressor.

Ken did not waste precious seconds looking around to see if they hit, his main concern was to keep on moving. But he couldn't help but feel a swell of pride for the tiny creature on his shoulder who was crazy enough to pick a fight with such a mean looking monster. He had some nerve.

"Arghhhh!" a girl's scream immediately grabbed his attention and he altered his direction slightly to pursue it, hoping to help yet not quite realising he would be putting said female into danger by leading Kuwagamon straight to her.

Just in the clearing ahead of them stood one of the girls he had seen earlier in the cabin. He recognised the pink hat and weird cowgirl style clothes but he didn't know her name. Not that now was the time to be worrying about such details.

He ran straight for her, panic and adrenaline pushing him far past his usual exercise tolerance, and was only slightly surprised to see that this girl had a creature friend too. Why not.

Suddenly a hazy memory burst to the surface but it was blurred and just out of reach of his conscious mind so he ignored it, instead focussing on the situation at hand.

The one word he recalled clearly was a name. _Hawkmon_. Why or how or what the significance was he had no idea, but there would hopefully be time to figure it out later. For now they all had other priorities.

"Run!" he gasped once he reached her, grabbing her hand and dragging her along behind him. She protested weakly but allowed herself to be led, although she was far less sure-footed weaving through the dense vegetation than he was.

The bug creature was gaining on them and decided to take this chance to make a dive. Luckily the girl's creature saw this and pushed her and Ken down out of the way as Kuwagamon sped by harmlessly. The rush of wind from the close call threw dirt and debris up into his face, causing him to cough, but he was unharmed.

"Over here," Minomon cried, ushering them into a tree. As Ken watched his new friend disappear into the trunk he didn't even question his faith in the digimon but instantly followed, stepping seamlessly through the bark and into a hollowed out tree where they would be hidden from view. After a second's hesitation the girl followed, her digimon bringing up the rear.

They were safe. He hoped.

No one dared speak as they listened to the sounds of the bug digimon overhead, sweeping the area from the sky no doubt searching for them.

At last Ken released the breath he had been holding in all this time. "Phew," he breathed, "that was close."

Minomon nodded and shook his pinecone, dusting it off carefully and smiling up at his partner. "It sure was, hopefully its over now though."

Ken nodded and fell silent.

_Where is oniisan?_ He wondered, having experienced such a close call he was now worried that maybe his brother had not been so lucky. _Please let him be okay_.

He was pulled abruptly away from such thoughts, though, by the sob which came from the girl next to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking earnestly up at the girl as she succumbed to a bout of more violent sobs.

"No!" she snapped, scowling at him. "What sort of a stupid-?" At that she broke down even more, quickly becoming hysterical.

"Mimi..." her creature soothed, concern written across his face.

"We're safe now," Ken tried, nervously reaching out a hand and placing it on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

After a few minutes she managed to calm down, but her shoulders still shook and she refused to smile at any of them.

"So, you're called Mimi then?" Ken asked, making an effort to build some sort of a conversation to take their minds off this strange situation.

"Yes," she hiccuped, making eye contact with him for the first time.

"My names Ichijouji Ken, pleased to meet you," he gave her a winning smile and she smiled weakly back.

"I'm Tanemon," chirped the other creature, beaming up at the young boy. Tanemon was nearly as unusual a creature as Minomon, Ken thought, with four stubby legs and a head-shaped body, large orb like maroon eyes and what appeared to be a large leaf springing up from her head she was certainly no household variety puppy. But she had a warm smile and friendly manner, so all things considered he was very pleased to have her around right now.

"And I am Minomon," his own friend added, blushing slightly. "Nice to-"

"Oh yes," Mimi suddenly cut in, snapping her fully attention to Tanemon who stood protectively by her side. "You were just telling me about why I'm here," she puckered her lips and looked expectantly at the creature, who smiled apologetically at Minomon before nodding.

_Well hi to you too,_ Minomon sighed.

"Yes, I was wasn't I. Well you're here because-" Tanemon did not get very far as right at that moment the tree they were sheltering in began to shake. The humming noise was back again, muffled but definitely near by. Kuwagamon.

The children and digimon stared at each other in horror. "You said we were safe!" Mimi accused, eyes wide in panic.

"I-" Ken began, but didn't know what to say. Now wasn't the time anyway.

"RUN!" Minomon and Tanemon ushered their partners out of the tree and the chase was back on.

For a moment Kuwagamon was so engrossed in shaking a tree to see if that was the one they had been in that he did not notice their escape. That is, until he heard Mimi's scream as she tripped over a large tree root on the ground.

"Ouch!" she shrieked as her knee was grazed against the bark of the tree roots.

Kuwagamon froze midway through shaking the tree and turned to look their way, seeing the girl splayed on the floor before him. He then began making his way slowly towards them, clicking his two large pincers together in anticipation.

Ken ran back for her and yanked her up roughly by her elbow. _She's far heavier than she looks_, he groaned silently as he handled the once more hysterical girl, herding her away from the scary bug towards safety.

"Hey!" she hissed, shaking the younger child off her. She was so sick of being thrown around everywhere by people today.

Meanwhile Tanemon and Minomon leapt in between Kuwagamon and the two children, bravely throwing their best attacks at the champion level digimon in a desperate bid to buy time for their partners to escape.

"Run Mimi, run!" Tanemon yelled at her partner, fearfully.

"Go!" cried Minomon as he rained down yet more pinecones on the looming Kuwagamon.

The two children staggered clumsily once more through the under growth, the sounds of the battle behind them gradually getting fainter and their limbs getting heavier.

_Minomon_... Ken frowned, thinking of his new friend standing up to such a powerful monster for them.

It was coming to the point where the boy could run no longer, he had already passed his limits long ago and he now fought frantically for every gasp of air into his lungs. They felt like lead, weighing him down with pain.

It was then that they broke through the vegetation suddenly and found themselves on a cliff side, staring into the faces of the other children from the cabin as well as a strange assortment of other small creatures.

There was no time for greeting though as the low humming was there again, just behind them.

Ken struggled to find enough breath to warn the other children of the danger, but all he could manage was a faint wheeze as he fell to his knees. In the corner of his darkening, splodge-filled vision he could make out Mimi falling to the ground beside him.

They were done.

* * *

Osamu stirred, trying to open his eyes yet being greeted only with darkness.

_What happened? Where am I?_ he rifled through his mind for clues, trying to remember the events leading up to this moment, but they were so hazy and illusive that he couldn't make any sense of them. Blurs of images flew around in his mind's eye: Ken, snow, light, darkness. Peanut butter. Faces, many new faces. Fragmented pieces to a puzzle he had no idea how to construct.

He groaned and tried to move, but failed.

_Wait, Ken. Where is Ken? He had been in my arms, I was protecting him. He needs me._

He recalled the awed expression on the younger boy's face just as the Aurora Borealis had become visible and suddenly the pieces of the puzzle made sense. They had been at camp. Strange phenomena followed by darkness.

Was that were he was now? In the darkness?

_"Very good, youngling"_ a voice caressed his mind from nowhere and everywhere. _"We have called you and you answered."_

He didn't have time for this. "Where is my brother?" he demanded, feeling strangely vulnerable.

A rich, quiet laugh greeted him in response.

_"All in good time, ser."_ it promised, sending a chill up Osamu's spine.


	3. The Dark Spore

**Note: I do not own Digimon**

Well here is the next chapter :}

Sorry I wavered so much about who to put as Osamu's partner. I now have someone who I believe (and I hope you will too) is actually rather perfect, all things considered. My only clue is that they are not one of the ones on the list last chapter...

I really want to thank everyone who helped me make the final decision, your willingness to bounce ideas with me was so helpful!  
So **NoRatCat**, **Naomi Shihoin**, **oOShinahiOo**, **Substitute Deathberry**, **Neko Haruko** and **NatNicole** as well as **LostCriesofTime**, thank you for everything and this chapter is for you!

...*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*...

* * *

**_Chapter Three ~_**

* * *

Nyaromon cried out as her best friend, DemiMeramon, was flogged before her eyes.

"No!" she snarled, shielding him with her body by jumping in the way. Her eyes glared with fury at the Ultimate level digimon who held the handle of the whip casually as he flicked back the red cords ready to strike again.

"Those eyes," he smiled humourlessly at the tiny creature before him, "must be taught a lesson."

He batted the fur ball shaped digimon out of the way with ease and struck her friend with barely disguised satisfaction. He would teach them both a lesson this day; Vamdemon did not tolerate insubordination, whether in action or attitude, in his underlings. He would extinguish the spark from those eyes if he had to stand here flogging digimon until his arms fell off.

These two were too useful to destroy, so break them he must.

* * *

"Who are you?" Osamu demanded, shaking slightly, a reaction due only in part to the chill in the air. "What do you want?"

_"We want you,"_ the whisper surrounded him, caressing and soft.

He reeled back at that, unsure of how to respond.

For the last few hours or days, he was unsure of which as time seemed distorted in this place and he was having trouble keeping track of its passage, Osamu had been drifting in and out of consciousness. At times he actually doubted whether he was conscious at all or whether this strange, dark place he found himself in was all nothing more than a dream. Or a nightmare. It certainly had a surreal quality to it and although he felt aware he also knew his senses were being messed with in ways which made him on edge.

For a start he was completely enveloped in darkness, he could see nothing and no matter how long he kept his eyes open his vision hadn't been able to adjust in the least. It was pitch black. An empty void.

For another thing sounds seemed to have no specific origin, it was more as if they were surrounding him, coming from all directions.

These factors were able to disorient the child, robbing him of two of the senses he relied on the most in life.

Yet if someone thought they could throw him off his game with some sensory manipulation then they had clearly underestimated who it was they were dealing with here. Osamu clenched his jaw, he would adapt.

All he had to do was slowly get his bearings while figuring out where he was and who held him here.

Engaging the strange, oddly seductive voice in conversation was a means to that end. As much as the answers may disturb him he knew he had to find out more. It could be his only way to find out what had happened to Ken. It could be the key to formulating a way to escape.

He just had to keep his wits about him and not let the voice get under his skin.

_"We want you,"_ it repeated intimately. _"You were made for us..."_

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He had to fight this and staying calm was the key, but he could already feel the bubble of panic rising in his gut and wasn't sure how long he could fight it off.

_As long as I have to_, he frowned, taking in a deep breath to steady his nerves.

"_Who_ wants me? Who are you?" he asked, speaking as confidently as he could into the darkness in the hope they would not sense his weakness. His fear.

_"We are Lucemon,"_ came the reply in what sounded eerily like a young child's voice, melodic and full of innocence. Just like Ken. _"And you are the vessel for our plans. We have such beautiful plans for you, our sweet."_

As Osamu digested this information he was surrounded by an unnerving childlike laughter, ringing out around the darkness with delight.

_"Your intellect makes you perfect for the role we have in mind for you, youngling,"_ Lucemon then revealed himself, lighting up their surroundings with his very presence. _"You are our chosen and through you we will do great things."_

Osamu jammed his eyes shut and covered his face with his hands to protect against the sudden rush of light on his unprepared senses.

He felt a small hand, no larger than Ken's, come to rest gently on his shoulder as if trying to comfort him. He took strength from the gesture and the panic building up within him was quietened.

As his eyes adjusted to the light he was able to slowly open them and stare into the face of the creature he now knew as Lucemon. He was the most beautiful thing Osamu had ever seen, throwing him off guard as he stared into those perfect blue eyes.

"You're an angel?" he gasped, staring with wide eyes at the creature before him. It was a white-blonde haired, fair skinned child who had eight large, pure white wings on his body and two on his head as well as strangely beautiful purple markings down the left side of his body. Its pale skin seemed to glow with the purest of light, mesmerising the boy with its radiance.

He was standing before a heavenly messenger; was he dead? Maybe this was the stopping off lounge before being allowed into heaven.

_"Yes,"_ Lucemon smiled warmly at the human before frowning in concentration and waving his hands slowly in the air.

Osamu watched with fascination as Lucemon's slow, circular hand motions actually began forming a spark of light which glowed with darkness. Osamu frowned at such a though, nothing could glow with a dark light, that was scientifically inaccurate, yet here before his very eyes this angel was creating a dark spark of hovering energy.

"What is that?" Osamu queried, his curiosity overcoming everything else as he leaned in close to watch Lucemon at work.

_"We call it a dark spore,"_ Lucemon replied, his eyes never leaving the entity forming between his hands. _"It is our gift to you."_

"What is it for?" Osamu asked eagerly, his previous distrust of Lucemon seemingly pushed to one side.

After a short pause Lucemon's gaze flickered back up at Osamu and bared his teeth in a smile. "This!" his voice distorted from childlike to venomous for a second and his irises turned such a light blue they almost seemed white. He thrust out his arms in Osamu's direction and the momentum caused the dark spore to fly out of his grasp and hit Osamu in the chest.

Osamu's eyes widened in shock and he let out a small gasp as his body absorbed the spore. He heard Lucemon's child like laughter fade as everything once more returned to darkness.

His head lolled forward as he struggled to control it and he fell to his knees on the cold, hard floor.

What was happening to him?

The last thing he remembered before he was once more overcome by unconsciousness was the bile rise in his throat as all of the negative and destructive emotions he had ever felt were brought to the surface.

* * *

Hatred, jealousy, anger, fear, loneliness, pride, arrogance, despair.

They all washed over him and he felt as if he were drowning in a sea of darkness as he tried to grasp a hold of some redeeming thought, but found he could think of none.

What was love? a joke...

Friendship? he hadn't had a true friend since Gennai. _Unless you count Ken_, a small part of him argued.

Happiness? a fleeting state induced by brain chemicals, nothing more.

What then could he hold on to as the swirling eddies of darkness threatened to engulf him?

_Ken._

The dark spore inside his chest pulsed and pain gripped Osamu as a sensation like fire dancing up and down his nerves struck with force.

_Ken.._

Osamu was desperate to hold on to the one thing which he truly cared about, now more than ever he needed his younger brother.

Pain racked his body once more as he tried to focus on the smiling, sweet face of his brother.

The dark spore pulsed again and again as Osamu writhed and screamed in pain. He stubbornly refused to surrender the image of his brother that he was clinging desperately to, as he figured that was what this spore wanted. He would not give in, he would not break.

Losing his brother was not an option.

_Ken..._

The pain intensified and he once more cried out in agony, scrabbling to recall something that was important, something of Ken. Anything at all. A memory flashed in his mind and he gratefully embraced it, hoping it would give him the strength that he needed to fight this. What else could motivate him more than his own flesh and blood...?

_"Pst," Ken interrupted his thoughts with a conspiratorial smile. "Want some peanut-cake?" He whispered, holding out a sticky hand with an even stickier offering of mutilated cake smothered in stomach turning globs of peanut butter._

Only the scene which had, at the time, caused him amusement now only added to the hurt and desperation as the dark spore wriggled its way further into his mind, twisting the memory and associating it with the horror of the pain he was now experiencing.

_Ken's beaming face, cheeks filled with smarties._

Pain. Burning. Fire. Agony.

_Ken's hand slotted into his as they walked down the street._

His skin searing. Pain. Burning. His nerves on fire.

_Ken as an infant looking up to him and managing to say "Oniisan". Their parents' pride. Osamu's joy._

His lungs burning as the sensation crawled further into his body, inflaming him from the outside in and back again. Agony. Fire. Burning.

His resolved was weakening but he managed to dredge up one final memory. _Showing Ken how to blow bubbles..._

Pain, burning twisting pain. It coursed through him with renewed vigour. His screams took on an animal quality now as he broke down, weeping and screaming simultaneously.

He couldn't stand it any more, he craved relief from the intensity of this nightmare and eventually he stopped fighting.

Everybody broke.

* * *

_"Vamdemon,"_ the voice, which seemed to be coming from all around him at once, took the Demon Lord by surprise as he turned around to see his master hovering behind him, blinding him with the light of his child like body. _"We have someone here you may want to meet."_

A smile played across the child form digimon's lips and Vamdemon raised an eyebrow before bowing low in reverence.

A small boy, human if Vamdemon didn't know any better, walked out of the shadows with a smirk on his face as he appraised the Vampire-esque digimon and his lair. Vamdemon scowled, disliking the air with which this being held himself in the presence of such powerful digimon as himself and his master.

The boy wore a dark blue suit with a high waisted belt, covered in a cape which billowed around his shoulders dramatically as he walked, causing Vamdemon to bite down the urge to laugh. If anyone knew melodramatic dressing it was him, yet even by his standards this human was trying too hard. Although the golden shoulder pads did succeed in giving the scrawny child more of a menacing appearance, he had to admit.

Still, who did this rugrat think he was?

Vamdemon bared his teeth in a grimace which passed as a smile, looking down at Osamu and then up as Lucemon with a trace of amusement.

"So who have we here then, my Lord?" he addressed the angelic digimon, ignoring Osamu.

Osamu bristled and stuck his chest out with confidence but it was Lucemon who was the one to answer.

_"This is our newest creature,"_ he beamed. _"We call it the Digimon Kaiser."_

"Interesting," Vamdemon appraised the human once more, wondering what his master had in mind for such a scrawny, pitiful thing.

_"Yes,"_ Lucemon's voice was soft and lilting. _"We have the boy, now all we must do is turn the girl..."_

* * *

In the corner, out of sight of the other digimon, DemiMeramon and Nyaromon exchanged worried glances.

"I have a funny feeling about this," whispered DemiMeramon as his flames flickered with nerves.

"Me too," admitted Nyaromon quietly.

They remained in silence for a while as DemiMeramon watched the strange, cape wearing creature intently. He had a strange desire to approach him, yet some instinct warned him to stay put. Probably common sense. Yet the feeling of being drawn to this creature was so strong and so deep within him that it soon overrode his survival instinct.

"DemiMeramon!" Nyaromon hissed in panic as her friend suddenly made a break for it out of the safety of their corner and towards the evil digimon as they conversed. Instinctively she snapped her teeth at him in a futile attempt to prevent him going anywhere by force, but his flames danced just out of her reach and before she knew it he was half way across the room.

_What has gotten into him?_ she wondered briefly, before heading straight after him. She was usually the rash, impulsive one of the two of them, while he was averse to risk of any kind. Yet here he was running towards Vamdemon-sama for no apparent reason._ Has he gone completely nuts?!_

He may have gone completely nuts, he didn't quite know. All he knew was that he had to get to that boy, whom Lucemon had called the 'Digimon Kaiser' but whom DemiMeramon knew in his heart had a different name. A wonderful name. A name DemiMeramon had been searching for his whole life. A name to give him purpose.

_Don't worry, I'm coming for you Osamu..._

* * *

**A/N~ Thank you to anyone who has been reading this, I hope you're enjoying it so far!**


	4. Beach Trip

**Note: I do not own Digimon**

Sorry I haven't updated in a long time! Hopefully once I get back in to writing this story will be worth the wait :)  
So here is the next chapter of Darkness Calling, Enjoy x

* * *

**Chapter Four ~**

* * *

Ken could hear the droning noise as Kuwagamon approached, but it sounded hazy and far away as his head swam and colours danced behind his eyes. He was faintly aware of Minomon's voice urging him to get up and run, but the urgency that he had felt moments ago had seeped away, replaced by a strange sense of calm.

So he was going to die.

Suddenly many hands grabbed his arm, roughly hoisting him up to his feet and dragging him towards the edge of the cliff they had found themselves on. He had almost forgotten about the other children, it seems they had run over to whisk Mimi and him out of harm's way. He almost laughed at the fact that being dragged towards the edge of a cliff was the safe option here. His mum would have a fit.

_Mum…_His heart tightened.

He glanced up for a moment hoping to catch sight of Osamu, but his brother was not among this group. He hoped he was okay.

"Ken," the high pitched voice of his new friend Minomon caught his attention as the other children sat him down gently on a rock. "Ken, I will fight for you." The creature's eyes met his and burned with an intensity that awed him.

_Fight, for me?_ Ken shook his head, "No, you can't. He's too scary."

Looking around for a moment Ken realised similar exchanges were taking place with all of the other children, it seemed everyone had one of these creatures. The droning grew ever louder, Kuwagamon was fast approaching and the creatures rallied in a protective wall around the children.

"Minomon, don't!" Ken rasped.

The little creatures all shared a look, their large eyes shining with determination as they edged forward; eight small dots facing down a giant, flying beast. The sight brought a lump to Ken's throat as he watched his new friend march fearlessly towards such a monster. For him.

They threw pitiful attacks at the insect, but with no effect. They didn't even slow the Kuwagamon down, merely irked him as he crashed towards the children on his collision course.

Ken was tired beyond anything he had ever felt. His lungs still burned from running for his life and his heart was pounding like a battering ram from fear and exertion, his muscles felt like lead and he wasn't sure he could squeeze another second of use out of his small, trembling body. But seeing Minomon standing there throwing all he had at the enemy in vain he knew he could not just sit by and do nothing. He would join his new friend and they would face their fate together. Standing side by side.

He painfully pushed himself up, nearly collapsing in the process, and dragged himself slowly over towards their creatures.

"Koromon!" Taichi's voice cried out from behind Ken. A bright beam of light shot from Taichi towards one of the creatures and the other children, encouraged by this display, also cried out to their partners. Pleas of love and desperation rang out upon the cliff top and in that moment something changed.

"Minomon!" Ken cried weakly, shocked as a device he had not even noticed before now emitted a similar light to the lights shining all around them. He felt his spirits soar and his body began to feel refreshed as the glow enveloped him and shone in a focussed beam onto Minomon.

"Ken!" Minomon gasped as something incredible took place with all of their creatures.

**_"Koromon SHINKA…. Agumon!"_**

**_"Tsunomon SHINKA…. Gabumon!"_**

**_"Yokomon SHINKA…. Piyomon!"_**

**_"Tanemon SHINKA… Palmon!"_**

**_"Motimon SHINKA… Tentomon!"_**

**_"Bukamon SHINKA… Gomamon!"_**

**_"Tokomon SHINKA… Patamon!"_**

**_"Minomon SHINKA… Wormmon!"_**

Before their very eyes the creatures had changed completely, becoming bigger and more formidable looking. Something about this seemed so familiar to Ken, but any musings he may have made were pushed aside as the battle before them heated up. The bigger creatures, their creatures, were now giving Kuwagamon a run for his money. Their attacks had an effect, they had become more than just an annoyance and this caused the bug to rethink his attack plan. Instead of heading directly for the children he swerved and aimed to take out their partners.

Ken watched, unable to take his eyes off the scene before them as the eight friendly creatures threw all of their might into a combined attack against their foe, knocking him backwards into the trees and hopefully frying his disgusting red exoskeleton to ash. There was a loud crash at the moment of impact as the monster hit the trees and knocked a number of them over with the force of his fall, and then there was silence.

Ken let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding. "Minomon!" he cried, holding his arms out shakily as the worm-like creature bounded over to him.

"My name is Wormmon now, Ken." The bug smiled shyly and leapt into his partner's arms.

"Okay," Ken nodded, holding the creature close and sighing.

"Is everyone okay?" Taichi asked, gathering the lost, scared children around him and trying to exude confidence.

Wary, nervous eyes glanced back at him as everyone nodded slowly. "We're all okay, Tai" Sora said softly.

"Good, then we sho-"

The buzzing sound once more returned, interrupting Taichi and causing them all to whip around and watch in horror as the giant red insect picked itself up slowly, shook off chunks of debris and slowly crawled towards them. They could not move as fear paralysed them, but instead watched helplessly as the bug drove its large pincers into the ground several feet away. The edge of the cliff they were standing on began to shake slightly and it dawned on the children one by one what this monster was doing. Ken's stomach flipped as the ground beneath them lurched and tilted, and with one severing motion the bug split the cliff's edge. They were all falling into the sea beneath them!

As one they screamed as they fell down hundreds of feet. Ken tried to prepare himself for what was about to happen but he could not fight down the panic as the wind rushed past him and his small body hurtled towards the waters below. All he could do was cling to Wormmon and close his eyes tightly, praying that this was all just some crazy dream.

And then…

It must be a dream! For, suddenly he was no longer falling but had landed on a soft, squishy, fish-smelling surface which seemed to writhe and move underneath him. If the strange forest and talking bug friend hadn't convinced him this wasn't real, the mattress of fishes he opened his eyes to could surely have no other explanation. He looked around him at the faces of the other children and saw similar thoughts flit across their expressions.

One of the creatures, an adorable seal-like fellow, looked especially pleased with himself as they floated away safely on this pungent magic carpet ride.

They were safe! Every muscle in Ken's body sagged with relief and he smiled goofily at Wormmon, who nestled in to Ken's neck and slowly caught his breath.

After the initial shock had worn off, the group tried to get their bearings. They were all lying on a raft of swimming fish, floating towards a beach. Ken wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it all was, or maybe he wanted to laugh with relief or hysteria. Either way he began to giggle softly to himself, causing the young girl, Hikari, to glance his way. He stopped and blushed, feeling foolish, but she just smiled at him.

He smiled back sheepishly.

It was only then that he realised that, while all of the other children had a creature, she didn't seem to. Unless they were invisible or else just really, really tiny.

"Okay," Taichi blurted out when it finally seemed like they were safe on this bed of fish, "what the hell just happened here? And where even_ is_ here? And for that matter _who_" he looked to his dinosaur-like creature, "_are you_?"

Before the dinosaur had a chance to explain Hikari tugged softly at her brother's sleeve and whispered, "That's Agumon, remember?"

All eyes spun to her and for a second it looked like this sparked a memory for Taichi too, but then he shook his head in confusion and demanded "What are you talking about, Kar?"

"I.. I don't know but I remember him, from before…" she shrugged and looked at her the whistle in her hands, twisting the string it was attached to around her fingers in concentration, "maybe I'm wrong."

"No," the dinosaur reached out a paw gently and placed it on her shoulder, "you're right. My name is Agumon, but I don't remember meeting you before."

"Oh," Hikari's eyebrows furrowed together.

Ken felt shy around all of these strange children but knew somehow that what Hikari had said made sense. About before.

"I remember something too, about a bird changing." Ken whispered in a voice barely loud enough for anyone to hear over the splashing of the fish. "Changing like you changed when the lights shone."

Hikari stared at him curiously for a moment and he immediately dropped his gaze and blushed, not knowing why but feeling even more bashful suddenly.

After a few minutes of silence as the other children tried to search their own memories and think what this all meant, the seal like creature cried out happily that they were close enough to the beach that they could swim from here. He leapt playfully into the surf and soon all of the other children and creatures followed, leaving the fish to disperse.

"I can't swim, Ken," Wormmon blushed and looked up at his partner with pleading eyes.

Ken grinned back at him. "Then climb on to my head, I'm a great swimmer!"

Wormmon gratefully slid on to the boys head and nestled comfortably, enjoying the bobbing motion as Ken swam happily through the crystal clear waves.

Once they reached shore everyone fell to the ground and rested for a while, soaking in the sun's rays and wondering what they were going to do next.

"Ugh," Mimi complained, pulling at her clothes in disgust. "I'm never going to be able to get the smell of fish out of these, they're ruined."

"Glad to see someone has their priorities straight," muttered Sora under her breath.

The older boys hid smirks at this and everyone felt sorry for the poor plant creature who tried in vain to comfort her partner.

"I'm glad you're so nice," whispered Wormmon as they lay together on the sandy shore. Ken smiled and stroked Wormmon's back gently, causing the bug to squirm and purr.

"I didn't know bugs purred," Ken commented in surprise.

"I'm not a bug," Wormmon explained, "I'm a digimon who must resemble this 'bug' you are talking about. I purr when I'm happy and growl when I'm angry and cry when I'm upset, just like a lot of digimon I know."

"Oh," Ken pondered this for a few minutes. "Do you not have bugs here then?"

"Nope, don't know what they are."

"Good, I don't like them." Ken stated without thinking, then, seeing Wormmon's heartbroken expression he realised what he had said. "But you're not a bug, you're a digimon..."

"A digimon who you thought was a bug, so I must be pretty similar," Wormmon sighed and backed away from Ken slightly, turning his face away in the hope he could hide how much the remark had hurt him.

"No! Bugs are small and crawly and they bite you and make you ill." Ken cried, reaching out to Wormmon as the digimon sidled away. "But you're nothing like that, you talk and you're the size of a puppy and you have cute eyes and you smile at me and you saved my life and I really, really like you Wormmon!" he barely took a breath as he spoke and Wormmon turned back around, his eyes searching the boy's to see if he was being genuine. Ken stood facing him, his lower lip trembling slightly and his eyes pleading, "I thought we were friends, Wormmon... I don't want to lose you."

Wormmon nodded, any words he was hoping to say caught in his throat and he jumped into Ken's arms and hugged him tight. "I'm so glad," he managed to whisper.

* * *

As the sun began to drop to the horizon two of the older boys, Taichi and a blonde haired guy, began to talk of finding food and supplies.

"We had a survival pack in our group at the cabin, didn't we?" the blonde asked.

A tall, skinny boy with glasses and blue hair stepped forward offering up a large rucksack. "Yes we did, here it is. There should be enough food for us for a day or so."

"Good," the blonde nodded, relieved.

Ken remembered his baking and smiled. "I've brought some food too," he held his own rucksack out to the blonde and blushed slightly. "It's lots of cake."

"Cake?" the blonde looked amused.

Ken nodded. "I like cake."

The younger blonde child, the one Ken's own age, beamed at him. "I love cake too!"

Ken beamed back and rushed to offer the blonde child a clump of peanut butter cake, now a little sticky and battered but hopefully still tasty. "It's my own special recipe," Ken said proudly.

The younger blonde happily took the cake and gobbled it down, but seeing the mangled state of Ken's offerings the other children were not as eager.

"Your own… 'special' recipe?" the blue haired boy asked, gulping and staring at the bag's cake contents with an odd expression on his face.

"Yep!" Ken nodded enthusiastically.

"How, erm, how is it Takeru?" the older blonde asked the younger blonde as he ate his way through another portion.

Between mouthfuls of peanut butter and sponge, the younger blonde grinned and spluttered "It's yummy!"

This was all the children needed to know and soon they were all sitting around a camp fire, which Agumon had lit with his "baby flame" attack, munching happily on Ken's cake.

"So," Taichi began, looking around at everyone. "I think now is a good time to explain what is going on, Agumon."

"Right," Agumon nodded. "First we should all introduce ourselves. My name is Agumon and I am your digimon, Taichi."

A red headed boy with glasses leaned forward with interest. "When you say 'digimon', what does that mean?"

"It stands for 'digital monster' and it means anyone who lives in the Digital World. This world." He spread his short arms and gestured around them.

"Hold up," the older blonde frowned, "the 'Digital World'? Are you saying we are in a totally different world now? We're not in Japan anymore?"

Taichi sneered, "does this look like Japan to you?!"

The blonde shot him a glare.

"I don't know what this Japan is, but you're definitely not there. This is our world and we called you here to save it because you're the Digidestined." Agumon explained.

"The 'Digidestined'?" queried the red haired child, leaning forward even further and raising his eyebrow with interest.

"Never heard of Japan?!" cried Mimi in panic.

"Save this world?!" spluttered the blue haired boy, pushing his glasses up his nose and taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

Before any of the creatures could get a word in edgeways there was chaos, with everyone speaking over everyone else. Hikari, Takeru and Ken just watched with wide eyes as the older children shouted and argued and ignored their digimons' attempts to calm them.

"I don't have a digimon," Hikari's quiet voice drew everyone's attention and a hush fell over the group as all eyes once more turned to Agumon.

"And oniisan isn't here, he was with us at camp so he should be with us now." Ken added.

"Yes, there has been a problem." Agumon said sadly.

* * *

"Osamu!" cried DemiMeramon, rushing forward towards the boy with a strange feeling of elation. The fear which he knew he should be feeling right now, as he headed towards Vandemon-sama, had been washed away by this primal joy that surged through him as he drew closer to the child.

The Digimon Kaiser flinched slightly at the mention of this name and all eyes in the room, from Lucemon to the sentries at the door, snapped to attention on the small fire ball.

"Who is this who dares to approach us?" Lucemon queried, smirking slightly and glancing over to the two in training digimon.

DemiMeramon froze the second the azure eyes fixated on his and the two digimon were locked in each other's gaze for what felt like an eternity. Those eyes, they were indescribable. DemiMeramon could not break the stare, could not move, could not even think as they bored into him. They were so beautiful, it seemed that they pulsated with their own light, hypnotising the small in training digimon as he stood in the centre of this large, dark room.

For a second he was aware of a reaction from the Digimon Kaiser boy who he had felt drawn to seconds before. It seemed the boy was clutching his chest in pain. No matter. Who was the boy anyway, why did he matter? Had he ever mattered? DemiMeramon couldn't remember, his brain felt cloudy but in a good way, clouded with the light from those eyes.

He sighed and felt his expression soften into a smile.

"DemiMeramon!" Nyaromon hissed from somewhere beside him. She had followed him, she was by his side and she sounded worried. Why? Couldn't she see the light? He ignored her.

Nyaromon's hackles rose, Vandemon-sama was smiling at this scene and that could not be a good thing. Why DemiMeramon had decided to rush out here was confusing enough, but to then stop in his tracks and gaze adoringly at the creepy, angelic stranger was too much. Whatever was going on, she didn't like it and it had something to do with that boy.

She bounded in front of DemiMeramon, hoping that in getting between him and the radiant digimon she could get his attention once more.

He blinked and his head immediately cleared as Nyaromon blocked his view of the digimon's eyes. Lucemon also blinked and began to laugh, giggling like a small child.

"We were enjoying that. How did you like our power, little fire ball?" Lucemon's voice was innocent and playful, caressing them from all directions.

Nyaromon's eyes narrowed, disliking this creature whose voice sent shivers up her spine. He was dangerous, no doubt, but also so powerful that he made Vandemon-sama look like a hatchling by comparison. She could feel the energy emanating from him and it was heavy, almost tangible. It could easily crush them.

"I have no interest in you or your power," DemiMeramon managed after a few moments of silence, being sure to stare only at the floor. "My only interest is in the boy."

Vandemon-sama smirked and flicked his wrist, ready to strike the small digimon in outrage over speaking to his superior like that, but Lucemon shook his head.

"This boy?" he waved to indicate the Digimon Kaiser, who stared ahead with a blank expression in his glazed eyes. "What could you possibly want with our new pet?"

DemiMeramon's gut clenched and he bared his teeth angrily. "He is not your pet!" he growled.

Nyaromon glanced at her friend nervously, certain that this behaviour would get them both killed.

Something in DemiMeramon's tone must have reached through to the boy, though, as for a second he lost the glazed look in his eyes and turned his attention to the fireball standing before him. He opened his mouth as if to say something but instead began to choke. A black glow throbbed in his chest and he fell to the ground, writhing as if in pain and coughing violently.

"Osamu!" DemiMeramon cried, rushing to the boy's side.

"Enough!" Lucemon snarled, his expression changing so rapidly the room seemed to freeze under the weight of his power.

DemiMeramon was thrown against the wall on the other side of the room, knocking him out, and even Vandemon-sama looked terrified by the creature's outburst.

"Take him away from the boy, now! Take them both to the basement, we shall see to them later."

Two sentries hurried to drag the in training digimon away as Nyaromon's mind tried to grasp what had happened in there with Lucemon and the boy and DemiMeramon. The last thing she saw as they were taken from the room was the black spark engulfing the boy and his coughing stopping as his eyes once more glazed over like a shroud.

* * *

**A/N~ Hope that was okay, will update more very soon (now I'm back I should be on a roll) so I do hope you stay tuned :D**


	5. Belated Introductions

**Note: I do not own Digimon**

So here is the next chapter, hope you guys enjoy it. Let me know what you think of the direction I'm taking this, I'm just winging it at the moment and maybe trying to combine too much into it at once, but hopefully it will work :)

* * *

**Chapter Five ~**

* * *

"What kind of a problem?" Taichi demanded, leaning forward over the flickering camp fire and frowning.

Agumon shifted uncomfortably, looking to the other digimon for support. A blue, wolf like digimon smiled encouragingly at him and he nodded in return. "We don't quite understand it ourselves," he began "but there were supposed to have been ten digimon for ten digidestined." Everyone looked around and it was clear they were some members short by that count.

"Let's start at the beginning, Agumon," Mimi's plant like digimon said gently.

"Sure" he nodded. "Our world was created a long time ago, no one knows how, but we believe it was somehow linked to events in your world. All we know is that our two worlds, the human world and the digital world, are linked."

"Linked how?" the red haired child asked.

His partner, a beetle-like digimon, was the one who answered. "Well, Koushiro, we believe they are symbiotic in nature."

The red head, Koushiro's, eyes widened at this. "Symbiotic worlds?"

His digimon nodded.

Ken and the others waited in silence for a moment, hoping for some explanation. Koushiro glanced around and, seeing all eyes were now on him, scratched his head nervously. "Symbiotic means they need each other to survive, so if our worlds are symbiotic which," he frowned slightly, "I am not sure if I believe is possible, then they need each other to exist."

Koushiro reminded Ken of Osamu and he smiled slightly.

The beetle digimon nodded and continued. "Well our worlds are both in danger. If something terrible happens to either of them, the other will suffer."

"And something terrible has happened here?" the older blonde child asked, placing a hand protectively over Takeru.

"Not yet," the beetle shook his head, "but our elders have chosen to call you into this world now, and they would not do that unless it was absolutely necessary."

"There's a prophesy," the blue seal digimon piped up, "about how this world will be saved by human children from that other world, children who can make their digimon evolve." His eyes shone as he looked to the blue haired boy, "you made me evolve, Jyou. Just like the prophesy said you would!"

"I.. uh," Jyou fiddled with his glasses nervously, "I did that?"

"Of course!" the seal grinned, "we all evolved to save you."

Jyou blushed and coughed, "To save _me_?"

"All of you," Agumon clarified.

Jyou nodded quickly. "Of course, all of us." Then he shook his head, "but how?"

Hikari pointed to a small device on Taichi's shorts. "The light that came from these did something."

"Oh yeah!" Taichi nodded, "that was when you guys changed. But I've never seen this thing before, what is it?" he held it out for everyone to see.

"I have one too," Sora held out hers. One by one everyone, except Hikari, presented their device.

"They are your digivices," the pink bird digimon explained, "legend says that they were created at the same time as this world, and they each have a spark inside them from that moment when everything was made."

"Why doesn't Kari have one?" Taichi asked.

"She does," Agumon said, "we just have to get it back."

"Along with my digimon?" she asked eagerly.

"And my brother?" Ken added.

The digimon all nodded.

"Back from where?" the older blonde asked, frowning.

The digimon exchanged looks. "We don't know. We have to go meet with Leomon, he should have some answers for us."

Hikari nodded sadly as Taichi put his arm around her small shoulders and Ken sighed. Wormmon curled up to his human, sensing his need for comfort.

As everyone watched the flames flicker in the fire, a thoughtful silence descended over the group.

"So…" Sora began, after this lull in the conversation. "I don't think we've actually had a chance to properly introduce ourselves yet," she smiled apologetically, feeling a little foolish. "I'm Sora Takenouchi, please to meet you all."

Taichi smiled. Trust Sora to think of introductions, he couldn't believe such a simple thing had escaped them all. But then, he guessed social niceties hadn't been the priority in this crazy situation.

The pink bird who had stuck close to Sora grinned and bowed slightly, "and my name is Piyomon, I'm Sora's digimon."

Sora gave Piyomon a half smile.

"I'm Taichi Yagami," Taichi grinned confidently around at the group "but you can call me Tai."

Hikari snuggled up to him and he ruffled her hair affectionately. "Oh yeah and this is my little sister Hikari," he added.

"And I'm Agumon, Taichi's digimon."

"Well my name is Yamato Ishida," the older of the two blondes stated, "and this is my-" he indicated the younger blonde who interrupted him with a giant smile.

"I'm Takeru Takaishi, Yama's brother!" Yamato smiled down at the younger child and nodded proudly.

"My name is Gabumon and I am Yamato's digimon," the blue canine digimon inclined his head politely.

"And I'm Patamon, Takeru's digimon," a round, hamster like digimon chirped as he flew up and perched on the blonde child's head.

All eyes now turned expectantly to Ken and Wormmon, who were next in the circle, and Ken felt suddenly shy. "My, my name's Ken Ichijouji" he managed in a small voice.

"Hiya Ken," Taichi smiled warmly at the boy, wanting to reach out and take care of the bashful child.

Ken smiled up at Taichi with big, grateful eyes. How he missed his big brother right now.

"I'm Wormmon, Ken's digimon."

Jyou cleared his glasses, where the flecks off the fire had stuck to them, and glanced around with a hesitant smile. "I am Jyou Kido, pleased to meet you all."

"And I'm Gomamon," beamed the small, seal like creature next to him.

"My name is Koushiro Izumi, pleasure to meet you all." Koushiro nodded his head respectfully.

"I am Tentomon, Koushiro's partner."

"Well my name is Mimi Tachikawa," Mimi offered, staring miserably around her "but this is no pleasure. A pleasure would be getting out of these stinky, sodden clothes into a nice warm bath away from all of this danger and horrible outdoors stuff!"

"Mimi-!" her plant digimon began, holding out a hand, or what passed as a hand, to comfort her.

"No, Palmon! Just leave me alone."

Mimi lapsed into silence and Palmon looked around apologetically. "Well, I'm Palmon and I'm happy to meet you all…"

Everyone smiled half heartedly at her, while secretly thinking that a hot bath and fresh clothes did sound perfect right now.

"We should plan for tonight, make camp and decide on a rota for people keeping watch," Yamato suggested after a short while.

"Keeping watch?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, in case you didn't notice early this place isn't exactly safe. I wouldn't feel happy sleeping unless I knew there was someone awake watching our backs," he frowned, "I won't have Takeru in danger."

Sora nodded, "Right. That's a good idea."

"The younger ones shouldn't have to keep watch," Taichi pointed to Hikari, Ken and Takeru.

"Agreed," Yamato nodded.

"Neither should us girls!" Mimi whined.

Sora raised an eyebrow, "Speak for yourself."

Taichi laid a hand on Sora's arm. "It's okay Sor, for tonight let's keep it with just us boys keeping watch. You can swap in tomorrow night for Koushiro or someone. That way we'll all get a full night's sleep every so often."

Sora frowned but saw the sense in his suggestion and nodded.

"How long are you thinking we'll be here, Taichi?" Jyou asked.

"I don't know," he shrugged and turned to Agumon questioningly.

"Well, it will take us two days to reach Leomon from here…" began Agumon.

"Two days?!" Mimi exclaimed.

Jyou went pale.

"And then?" Taichi prompted his digimon, ignoring Mimi's outburst.

"Well, we have to save the world, it could take years…"

There was silence as the children digested this.

"Come on this is ridiculous. 'Fate of the world' talk aside, look at us for a second, would you!" Jyou glanced from face to face "we're just a bunch of kids. What can we do?" he wrung his hands. "I say we all just need to go home, this is too much."

Ken shook his head, he for one wouldn't leave without his brother.

"Yes," Mimi nodded, "let's just go home. They can find someone else to save the world. Isn't that what the army are for? Call America!"

The digimon looked at their partners with wide eyes. "We don't know how to get you home."

"You don't- you can't-?" Mimi spluttered as Palmon rushed to try to soothe her once more.

"We only know that once both our worlds are safe you won't be needed here anymore and can go home then," Gabumon offered.

"But that could take years, you just said!" Jyou ran his hands through his hair and began breathing deeply to try to calm himself down. "We're just kids. You can't seriously expect this of us!"

"Alright," Yamato said, "Let's take this one step at a time. I think we should all just calm down and try to find somewhere to rest tonight. Forget all the other stuff for now and just focus on surviving the night. Okay?"

Jyou nodded, not convinced. Mimi scowled. The others obligingly looked around the beach, eager for something to focus on.

"What's that?" Takeru asked, pointing to a large cable car across the sand.

The children all followed his gaze and murmured in surprise.

"I'll go check it out," Taichi sprang up and headed over, followed closely by Agumon. The other children picked themselves up slowly and headed after them, curious.

As the group approached they saw that it was, in fact, a cable car.

"Shelter!" Jyou gasped as he rushed inside, trying out the seats and sighing with relief. "They are a little lumpy but they sure beat the floor" he grinned up at the others.

"What on earth is this doing here?" Koushiro wondered quietly.

"Welcome to the executive suite ladies and gentlemen," Taichi laughed, collapsing happily onto one of the benches and winking at Sora who smiled back.

Mimi pursed her lips but said nothing and settled onto one of the benches with Palmon, seeming slightly happier.

"I'll take first watch then," Taichi said as he stretched his arms and headed back outside. "Sleep well guys, I'll come wake you up in two hours Yamato."

"Yeah" Yamato nodded and the children settled down to sleep.

"Hey," Takeru approached Ken with a shy smile. "Want to sleep in that corner with me and Yama?"

Ken nodded happily and turned to smile at Hikari, who had edged close to them but seemed reluctant to impose herself onto anyone. "Do you want to join us too?" Ken invited warmly.

She nodded shyly but said nothing and followed along behind the two boys as they set up camp in the corner with Yamato and Gabumon.

Takeru curled up with his head on Yamato's knee and Patamon snuggled in his arms like a teddy bear and suddenly felt very sorry for Hikari, who had no partner. "Hikari," he whispered as everyone was quietening down to sleep.

"Yeah?"

"We will find your partner soon. I promise."

Ken nodded at this, too. "Yeah we will, don't you worry."

"Thanks Takeru, thanks Ken," her eyes crinkled slightly as she smiled at them. Then she rolled over and gazed up at the stars through the cable car's window and sighed. As the sounds of the other children sleeping filled the car she wondered what kind of digimon partner was waiting out there for her.

_"Don't worry I'm coming for you,"_ she whispered quietly, _"just hang on."_

She wondered if they were also looking up at the night's sky and thinking of her right now, feeling the same sense of incompleteness that she felt each time she saw Ken clutch Wormmon or Patamon perch on Takeru's head companionably. The same sense of incompleteness she had always felt, just never knowing why until now.

_"Just hang on,"_ she repeated, closing her eyes and offering up a silent prayer as her mind finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Lucemon watched the young girl's face on the orb before him, the image fluctuating every so often. He could sense her longing and this pleased him. With the girl being so eager to meet her partner there would be no way she would not accept him.

He smiled slowly.

Yes, Hikari was his for the taking.

"Summon Devimon," he commanded Vandemon, never taking his eyes off the screen before him. "Tell him we are ready to play."

Vandemon bowed and was about to leave the room when Lucemon added "and watch over the boy for us, train him while we are gone. We have something important to do so we must leave him in your care."

"Yes sir, I won't disappoint you." Vandemon bowed obediently.

"No," Lucemon's gaze found Vandemon's for a moment and he narrowed his eyes, "you will not."

Vandemon blanched.

Immediately Lucemon's attention returned fully to the picture of the sleeping girl projected on the orb and Vandemon took his chance to sidle out of the room silently and head towards the communications tower to let Devimon know the plan was to be initiated.

"Now," Lucemon whispered intimately to the image on the orb, "we shall come and find you, our little light. But first," he raised his arms above his head and closed his eyes as a bright light enveloped him. When the light faded it was clear something had happened, for in the place where Lucemon had been standing only moments before there was now a far smaller digimon, less than half his size. He was cherub like and undeniably adorable, with white fur, small golden wings and giant golden eyes.

Lucemon had devolved into his in training form, Cupimon.

"Much better," he chuckled, holding up his tiny paws for inspection, "Hikari cannot help but love us when we are in this form…"

He once more studied the image of the young girl before him. How strange that such an uninspiring creature could be so vital to the fate of the world, it was almost laughable.

"Once we have you, little light, we have won" he cooed tenderly. "Oh what fun this will be!"


	6. Hikari's Partner?

**Note: I do not own Digimon**

Here is chapter six, I'm getting more in to this now so will hopefully update regularly. I hope you guys like it too, I'm personally excited to explore Osamu and Ken as younger characters and see how Hikari gets on with Cupimon...

Also there seems to be no point rewriting scenes that would be unchanged from the anime, so I may well be cutting certain scenes, such as Greymon's evolution, to focus on other parts around this. Also, I know now that I've messed up the order of time in this, as Greymon evolved on the first day but oh well, I'll just roll with it from now on.

* * *

**Chapter Six ~**

* * *

Hikari stirred as the pink hued rays of light bathed her face. Strange, her curtains must not have been drawn last night. She stretched and yawned, rolling over slightly and bumping in to... someone? Who?

She opened her eyes in surprise and saw a small boy's face, peaceful in sleep, close enough to her that she could feel his breath tickling her cheek.

"Where am I?" she mumbled, still half asleep and slightly disoriented. Her nose crinkled up and she looked around her, seeing more faces of children and strange creatures- the digimon! That's right, they were in the digital world. How could she forget?! She nodded sleepily and lay her head back down, smiling slightly at the expressions on Ken's face as he slept. She could not see Takeru's face as it was buried in Patamon's short fur.

Just behind her she could hear the familiar deep breathing of her brother Taichi, who much have joined their corner during the night after his watch. His presence was reassuring and she turned and reached out to hold his hand gently, careful not to wake him.

Last night she had been jealous of the other children who had digimon partners, but she hadn't thought about how Ken must feel being here without his brother. She couldn't imagine being in a place like this without Taichi...

_Poor Ken._

Over the next hour, one by one, the other children all began to wake up. Ken and Takeru took a while to rouse and by the time they were fully alert the smell of fish being cooked was already wafting from the beach outside where Yamato was overseeing breakfast.

"Mmm, that smells yummy," Takeru sniffed the slightly smoky air with a sleepy smile.

"Yeah, I'm starving!" declared Ken as he sprang up and whisked Wormmon outside, eager for food.

"Shall we go with them, Hikari?" Takeru asked, offering his hand to the brunette.

"Sure," she nodded happily, taking his hand and following him outside as Patamon hovered around them.

When they got outside they saw that Yamato was already serving skewers of fish to the other children, who were lounging on the sand around the fire. Even Mimi was smiling as Palmon brought the group fruit and berries that some of the digimon had foraged for that morning.

Hikari's spirits lifted to see the group so at ease, she hated tension and it had felt like there had been a tense atmosphere among the children since they had arrived.

"Takeru!" Yamato called out when he saw his younger brother emerge. "Here, this one is for you."

Takeru dropped Hikari's hand and ran over to his brother, hugging the older boy and causing him to blush. "Thank you oniisan," he beamed as he took the large, perfectly cooked fish skewer and realising that Yamato had saved him the very best.

Yamato cleared his throat self consciously, "No problem."

Hikari approached the two boys and Yamato smiled down at her "and here is one for you, too." he said as he handed her a large, juicy fish.

"Thank you," she bowed slightly and smiled up at the older boy before following Takeru and Patamon as they hurried over to the large rock that Ken and Wormmon were sitting on.

Ken beamed up at them, his cheeks stuffed with food, and Wormmon offered Patamon a share in some of the berries he had been given.

"This is so much more fun than camp," Takeru decided as he nibbled on the still hot fish.

"Unhmm" Ken agreed whole heartedly.

"And it'll be even better when we find your digimon too, Hikari," Takeru said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I can't wait to meet them" she sighed wistfully. "I wonder what they'll be like..."

"I bet they'll fly like superman!" Ken said.

"And breath fire like a dragon!" Takeru added.

"And blow things up with their mind!" Ken gestured with his arms enthusiastically, mimicking an explosion.

The three of them laughed as their imaginings got even more ridiculous, while Patamon and Wormmon exchanged amused glances.

* * *

Devimon smirked as he watched the children go about their business, completely unaware of his presence as he hovered far above them. Lucemon-sama had given him the all clear to begin his games and he was eager to try out his new find, the power of the black gears. He sensed a Shellmon nearby and focussed his efforts into manipulating a black gear strong enough to control the Champion level digimon. It struck with force and consumed the creature with its dark power.

This would most certainly be entertaining, he thought, as he felt the dark gear exert full control over Shellmon.

"Attack the children" he commanded softly.

He relished the feeling as Shellmon's will was bent to his purpose.

"Yes, master." the monotonous voice replied from afar.

Devimon chuckled to himself and settled to watch the spectacle below him as Shellmon roared and charged at the digidestined.

* * *

Agumon chomped greedily on his second potion of fish. "I'm so glad you made me evolve, Taichi," he said as he rubbed his swollen belly, "I could never manage this much food as a Koromon and its so yummy. I wish I could eat forever."

Taichi laughed and patted him on the head. "I wish I could introduce you to the food we have back home, you'd love it." he sighed as he thought of burgers and ice cream.

"You'd love my mother's cooking, Tentomon," Koushiro chipped in.

"And chocolate!" Mimi sighed dreamily. "What I wouldn't give for some Lindor right now."

Palmon smiled at Mimi. "Maybe one day I can visit your human world and we can eat chocolate together!"

Mimi nodded, "you'd love it, Palmon!"

"I'd love being any where with you, Mimi." Palmon blushed as she smiled up at her partner.

Mimi's eyes crinkled as she smiled back.

Everyone froze as they heard a commotion approaching them.

"What is that?" Jyou asked, spinning around to see where the noise was coming from.

"Is it another monster?" Mimi cried.

"If it is we will protect you, Mimi" Palmon reassured her partner.

The digimon stepped in front of the children in a protective line and watched as, out of the forest surrounding the beach, a large, shellfish like digimon charged towards them in a rage.

"That's shellmon!" gasped Tentomon, "he is usually a kind and docile digimon, why is he so angry?"

* * *

Devimon watched the fight below as the weak rookie level digimon tried in vain to fight off his champion. As it began to look like a hopeless battle for the digidestined Devimon found himself feeling disappointed. He had had high expectations for these human children of the prophesy and had been eager to get the chance to fight them himself.

Instead he was witnessing their defeat at the hands of a minion who, despite being a champion level, was actually not all that impressive at all.

What a shame.

Suddenly though everything changed as a bright light engulfed the beach, causing the demon digimon to wince and recoil in horror.

_**"Agumon shinka... Greymon!"**_

Once the light faded he could see that one of the puny digimon had actually been able to evolve and despite himself he was impressed.

"Heh, maybe they are formidable after all" he smirked, watching with piqued interest as the newly evolved Greymon freed Shellmon of the black gear and its power.

So the prophecy had been correct when it claimed the chosen children could make their partners evolve. This certainly made things more interesting.

He would have to report this development to Lucemon-sama immediately.

"Goodbye for now, children." he whispered, the wind catching his words, before disappearing from view.

* * *

Greymon turned to Taichi, victorious, before a light glowed around him and he devolved back to Agumon. He collapsed to his knees having used up all of his energy, he was exhausted.

"Agumon!" Taichi cried, running over to his partner, "you were incredible."

Agumon smiled weakly as the other children and digimon surrounded him, congratulating him on his success.

"What happened?" the Shellmon asked, blinking nervously as he glanced around at the children and digimon in confusion. "Who are you?"

"We should be asking you that question," Yamato answered, frowning up at the large digimon. "You attacked us for no reason!"

Shellmon shook his head, "I don't remember that at all, I'm terribly sorry!"

Yamato's expression softened and he looked to Gabumon for help.

"What is the last thing you do remember?" Gabumon asked gently.

"Well, I was uh, I was sunbathing on the rocks about half was up the cliff face. Its my favourite spot. And then suddenly I found myself here surrounded by all of you."

Tentomon buzzed forward and scratched his head. "I don't know for sure but I do recall that Shellmon stopped attacking us immediately after Greymon's Mega Flame knocked a black thing out of him and obliterated it..."

"Yes!" Koushiro agreed, "I remember that too. I didn't know what to make of it before, but now that I think about it I don't believe the timing of you stopping your attack was a coincidence, Shellmon."

"You mean, you think something was controlling him?" Sora asked.

"Well its just an idea, but it would make sense. Whether it was controlling him directly or maybe just impairing his judgement, like a digimon equivalent of alcohol..." Koushiro paused mid-thought and turned to face Shellmon, "have you eaten or drunk anything strange recently?"

"No, I don't think so," he replied.

"Hm, curious.." Koushiro silently pondered the issue for a while as the other children talked among themselves.

Ken wished Osamu was there, if anyone could figure out this kind of thing it was him.

"If Agumon can evolve again, does that mean you can too, Patamon?" Takeru asked his digimon excitedly, interrupting Ken's reverie and causing the sapphire haired child to turn away from Koushiro and his intense focus back to his new friend.

Patamon puffed up his chest, "You betcha I can!"

"Me too!" added Wormmon happily, "I can't wait to evolve again to protect you, Ken-chan."

"But I like you this way," Ken pouted slightly, stroking his partner tenderly.

"Agumon changed back," Hikari reassured the boy, "so I'm sure Wormmon would too."

Ken smiled at this and hugged Wormmon tight. "What do you think you'll evolve in to?"

"Definitely something that blows things up with my mind!" Wormmon joked, winking at Ken, and the children laughed.

"Hey, we should get ready to move out guys," Taichi called out to everyone after a while, "We need to go find this Leomon and see if he can help us."

Nods of agreement followed this statement and the children packed away their belongings and tidied up the beach. Shellmon helped and gave them directions to get to Leomon, for which the children were extremely grateful.

"Thank you Shellmon!" the called as they headed out, waving back at the pink shellfish digimon.

"Good luck!" he cried back.

And with that they were on their way to find this Leomon and save the digital world.

* * *

Osamu watched as digimon scurried around below him in Lucemon's arena. He was enjoying watching their fights and had chosen the next two digimon himself, knowing that they were siblings.

_Ken..._

The dark spore pulsed and he caught his breath at the intense pain, burying the small child's face further down in his mind where it could not hurt him.

He smiled down to see the look of fear in the rookie level digimons' eyes as they realised they would have to fight each other or both be deleted. The Terriermon and Lopmon held hands as they marched bravely to the centre of the arena, a sight which did something funny to Osamu's chest. He shook it off and cleared his throat so Vandemon would not hear his voice break.

"Begin!" he commanded in a cold, detached voice once the digimon had assumed their combat positions.

Would they fight? Part of him relished the idea, but a small part hoped they would not. Once more the dark spore ate into his soul and he gasped, clutching at his chest as any sympathy for these digimon was replaced with ice.

_They are nothing more than collections of data serving as amusement to those worthy enough to control them,_ the dark spore whispered soothingly. _You are one of those worthy, now make them dance._

Osamu smiled, his eyes expressionless as he watched the fight take place before him. They had chosen combat over sacrifice.

_Good_.

_**"Terrier punch!"**_

Lopmon cried out as Terriermon punched her repeatedly in the face, spurts of blood flying as his fist connected with her face again and again.

There were tears in Terriermon's eyes, but he did not stop. Lopmon raised her paws up in defence and for a moment Terriermon paused as sobs racked his little body.

"Do it," Lopmon whispered, giving her twin brother a weak smile and reaching up to stroke his face.

"I will find you when you hatch again," he promised as his voice broke.

"I'll be waiting," she nodded as she closed her eyes and the final blow came.

**_"Blazing fire!"_** he cried as he attacked Lopmon and she was deleted, her data scattering and dancing around him for a second, before flying towards Primary Village.

Terriermon fell to his knees and cried before being hauled away by two large Tyrannomon.

Osamu laughed and walked away.

* * *

Cupimon was getting closer to the children, he could sense it. He sped through the forest and weaved in and out of the trees in excitement. He couldn't believe this was all going so smoothly.

Many years ago, when the celestial digimon had first tried to intervene with his plans by sending the digimon over to the human world he had thought it was a disaster. He had actually panicked, wondering what he would do if the prophesy were true and these humans really did have the power to defeat him.

But as that experiment failed and they moved to the back up plan of bringing the children here, Lucemon had seen an opportunity. Since he had heard of their plan he had been carefully hatching his own, and right now it seemed like things were definitely working in his favour. He could not wait to see the look on Pegasusmon's face when he realised that they had actually provided Lucemon with the tools to bring the Digital World completely under his power.

_Stupid Pegasusmon, you always were two steps behind us,_ Cupimon giggled in delight.

He had the boy under the control of the dark spore, the first step and an absolutely vital one as the boy was powerful. In fact, it would be down to the boy and the girl to decide the outcome when the time arrived, everything rested on them. So now it was time to deal with the girl, a task he would personally relish.

In controlling them, he could not be stopped.

Ahead of him he heard a commotion as a group approached. _The children_. He paused and collected his thoughts, this was it.

_Show time._

"Hikari!" he cried in a tentative voice.

The commotion stopped and he could imagine the children's faces as they wondered who it could be who was calling out to one of them by name. Then there was the sound of quick footfalls as someone ran in his direction, followed quickly by many others.

"Who's there?" a young girl's voice called out from just behind the next group of trees. "Where are you?"

"We are here," Cupimon replied, "is that you, Hikari?"

A small girl with short hazel hair and large amber eyes burst though the group of trees just before him and stared down at Cupimon in wonder. He made sure to mirror her rapturous expression and they ran to each other and embraced.

"Our name is Cupimon," he said as the other children caught up to them, "and we are your digimon, Hikari!"

She squealed and spun him round in delight, "Cupimon!"

The other children exchanged smiles and Taichi stepped forward to put his hand on Hikari's shoulder. "There ya go, 'Kari."

She beamed around at everyone and before long the children were exclaiming over how adorable Hikari's new partner was.

The other digimon were not as keen, but tried to make an effort to welcome the new comer for Hikari's sake. They had no reason to dislike him, yet they just could not warm to him...

_How gullible these children are_, Cupimon gloated to himself as he smiled up into the eyes of his trusting human. _And what fun we shall have playing with them_. _To think we had once feared that they could truly be a threat to our plans._

He giggled at that thought and Hikari joined in, having no idea what was funny but laughing for sheer joy.

"I knew I'd find you, Cupimon!" she whispered as she stroked his fur affectionately. "We are going to be the best of friends."


End file.
